


Snuggles

by excessiveprepositionalphrases



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: M/M, something to make you feel warm inside, swp (Snuggles Without Plot)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23209261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excessiveprepositionalphrases/pseuds/excessiveprepositionalphrases
Summary: A good case of the cardassian flu brings out a...different side of Garak.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 20
Kudos: 173





	Snuggles

“Will he be alright, Doctor?”

Odo was doing only a moderately decent job of making the anxiety about his investigation in his voice sound like genuine concern.

Julian spoke that particular language quite well, by now. “He’ll be fine,” he affirmed, one eye on the unconscious Cardassian on the biobed. “He’ll be uncomfortable before the medication kicks in. I’m going to try to keep him unconscious until then.”

Odo gave one of his courteous, wordless nods, and strode away, in his way of always seeming to have somewhere else he needed to be.

Everything Julian had said was true: Garak would be fine. Absolutely, perfectly fine. What Julian wasn’t sure of, however, was what stood between this moment and that point.

When a human gets ill, their temperature goes up. The Cardassian body tended to handle illness, even minor illness, quite differently. Cardassian viruses and bacteria, much like Cardassians, thrive on heat. So the evolutionary response, for the Cardassian body, was not to raise the body temperature, but to lower it. And so this was the position Elim Garak, suffering from the deeply unpleasant but altogether harmless Cardassian equivalent of the flu, was currently in, his body temperature hovering at an unbearably chilly 95.2 degrees. Julian could see him shivering, and wondered quietly what Garak would have thought, if he could have seen himself, shivering and vulnerable. He also wondered if his cocktail of sedatives would be enough.

There was another component to this Cardassian “reverse flu” that Julian was carefully trying to avoid, beyond simply trying to save his patient some discomfort. Where a hint of flu would make a human slightly woozy, low “reverse fevers” had a way of making a Cardassian completely delirious. An old joke on Cardassia was that the only thing stronger than the family unit was a bad flu – the joke being that the truth-serum effects of a good case of reverse-fever delirium could make a person admit to so many secrets it would make their partner leave them. He’d claim that he was just looking out for his patient’s comfort, but the truth was that this was what Julian was really trying to avoid. He had no idea what would come out of Garak’s mouth if he started talking, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He knew for certain that Garak wouldn’t want him to know, and letting him ramble seemed an invasion of patient privacy somehow. But Garak was still lying there, shivering and unconscious. Julian pressed a hand against his forehead, quietly thankful Garak couldn’t admonish him for doing so.

“Doctor, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Jabara. Courteous and pleasant as always. Julian tore himself away from his patient to assist his nurse, and was deep in conversation with her when he heard his own name.

“…Julian?”

The voice was weak and strained, but it was definitely Garak’s. Julian had to meter his steps to keep from rushing to Garak’s side. Garak looked…frightened. It wasn’t the expression Julian was expecting to see. He took his post at his patient’s side, hovering protectively.

“I’m here,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, I was hoping to keep you unconscious. What do you need?”

Garak’s eyes darted around the room. “Where…am I,” he asked shakily.

“You’re in the infirmary. You really are delirious, aren’t you.”

“I do not know...what that means. It is rather cold in this “infirmary” isn’t it?”

“Hospital, Garak. You’re in a hospital. Well – sort of a hospital. I’m a Doctor, remember?”

“You…everything about you, I know,” Garak confirmed quietly. “I’m so cold. Why am I so cold?”

“Your body temperature is almost 10 degrees below where it should be. You’re not in any danger, but you will be a little cold for a while.”

It was abundantly clear from the expression on Garak’s face that none of this was really sinking in, or making much sense to him.

“Do you understand?” Julian asked, more gently this time. “You’re not in danger. It’s not serious. I’ll give you another sedative. By the time you come around again, you should be much warmer.”

With those words, Garak’s eyes widened. He reached up, quickly, apparent panic in his eyes, and grabbed Julian by the wrist. “No! Please don’t. I’d much rather be aware.”

“Alright,” Julian agreed. “Whatever you want. But there’s no reason for you to suffer. There’s no risk to it, and there’s no reason for you to – ”

“I’m frightened, Julian.”

It was Julian’s turn to look shocked.

“…what?”

“I’m so frightened…so cold…”

There was sincerity in Garak’s voice, a tone Julian had never heard. The Doctor wrapped his patient’s trembling hand in his own.

“It’s alright, Garak. There’s nothing to be frightened of. You’re safe. You’re with me. You’ll always be safe with me.”

“I know,” Garak said, the expression on his face looking more vulnerable by the moment. “I know…and if you sedate me…I won’t know you’re here anymore.”

“Okay,” Julian confirmed with a nod. “I won’t sedate you. I promise. I’ll stay here with you, alright?”

Garak nodded shakily.

“Is there anything else I can do?”

“Hold me.”

The Doctor’s well honed professionalism was the only thing that kept his eyes inside his head. At least it was an easy request to fulfill. He crawled into the biobed, quietly grateful it was large enough for two, and wrapped his arms around the trembling Cardassian. He was shocked when Garak snuggled tightly into him. Garak was larger than Julian was, but seemed to be trying to disappear into him completely, pulling his arms and legs tight against his body and himself closer and closer to Julian’s warmth.

“Hey…I’m not going anywhere,” Julian reassured him.

“Warm,” Garak responded, almost inaudibly. “You’re so warm.” He had nuzzled his face into Julian’s neck, and seemed to be content to stay that way. Julian gently stroked his hair, and quietly wondered what a more aware Garak would think of this in a day or so. He found it hard to worry about that, though, with the hypothermic cardassian snuggled against him.

Garak wasn't entirely sure _what_ was happening. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that this wasn't the man he usually was. But he felt so safe with the doctor's long arms around him. He couldn't remember the last time someone had run their fingers through his hair like that. He wasn't sure, either, why he was okay with being seen like this. He wasn't sure of anything, but when he got to thinking about too hard, he was distracted by Julian's warmth again. He deliriously decided none of it mattered.

* * *

“Doctor Bashir. So happy to have caught you.”

Garak. Healthy, cautious, observant, careful. Himself. He invited himself to take the chair across from his doctor, who was drinking a hot tea and taking a few quiet moments away from his job.

“I’m glad to see you up and about again,” Julian said with a smile. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when the nurses discharged you. There was an accident in one of the cargo bays, a lot of broken bones…”

“That’s quite alright, Doctor. They did an excellent job sending me on my way.”

“You were very ill, there for a short while…”

“Indeed I was. I might be still, had I not such an…attentive physician.”

“…do you remember…anything?”

“My dear doctor, that flu has a reputation for causing truthfulness, not amnesia.”

"I have to admit, I rather enjoyed it...you're quite nice to hold, you know..."

There it was – no words, but a smile. One of those complicated smiles. Julian went to lift his tea, and saw, for the first time, that Garak’s hand was on the table, open, extended toward him. It felt like a request, one that this Garak, without the benefit of delirium, couldn’t find it in himself to say out loud. Julian quietly hoped he was reading it right, and took Garak’s hand. There was a flicker in Garak’s eyes. It looked, to a trained eye, something like relief and affection.

"And you, Doctor, are very warm."

Julian was positive, as quick as it was, that Garak squeezed his hand just a little tighter.


End file.
